Ghana extends validity of passport to 10 years

The Akufo-Addo administration has extended to 10 years the validity of the Ghana passport.The new directive will take effect from March 31, 2019.

This was made known in a memo dated February 6, 2019, to Ghana’s embassies and consulates across the world by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Habibu Tijani.

“Missions are hereby informed that government has decided to extend the validity of ordinary passport booklets issues to qualified Ghanaian applicants from five years to ten years (5-10 years) with effect from 31st March 2019. The processing fees remain the same until further notice,” the memo noted.

It will be recalled that in March 2017, parliament proposed the extension of the validity of the Ghana passport from five years to 10 years when the Director of Passports Alexander Ntrakwa, appeared before Foreign Affairs Committee.

Ranking Member of the Committee Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa at the time argued that the five year expiry period for was too short a time, especially given the challenges that applicants go through in getting a new passport or to renew an old one.

Source: Pulse Ghana

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Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists, and is currently contributing to the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation as Liberia Correspondent.